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Occasionally, I will mention my job, my public service activities, and other aspects of my life to offer my readers a better perspective on where I'm coming from. But to be clear:

"The views that I express represent my own opinions, based on my own education and experience, not the opinions of any other entity, party, or group to which I belong. I give these opinions in my individual capacity, as a private citizen, and as someone who gives a good gosh darn about his community, his country, and the truth."

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Monday, May 3, 2010

Tea Party Throws Abortion Politics Overboard in South Dakota

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the Teabaggers and 9-12ers and whoever else belongs to this weird mass of well-fed yet politically cranky people aren't completely politically impotent. Maybe the Tea "Party" really has changed the political landscape for the better... by keeping abortion off the South Dakota ballot.

Maybe the Teabaggers have slurped up all the energy to be had from the culture warriors. Where certain righteous demagogues spent 2006 and 2008 reducing politics to cries of "We love babies!" they now scratch their crusader's itch by crying "Obama's a socialist!" and threatening civil war.

So maybe the Teabaggers have done some good. Could they be the reason we have no abortion measure on South Dakota's 2010 ballot?

18 comments:

Boy, for someone from a group that prides itself on being all-inclusive and tolerant of others, your constant use of "tea-baggers," which is describes a very obscene sexual act, is downright hypocritical.

I doubt many teabaggers would threaten civil war, but a few might warn that such a scenario lies within the realm of possibility. Or, at the very least, we could have civil unrest of the sort taking place in Greece ...

I wonder what "gibilisco" might come to mean as a plain noun or verb? I know this much: Someone claiming the name of "Stan Gibilisco" wrote a rather detailed essay some years ago concerning the modus operandi for mood alteration using the venom of sea anemones. Extrapolate from there.

Stan, last year, Allen Unruh was threatening/predicting a "revolution" by this year. No such luck. We probably won't see even Greece-style civil unrest, because, contrary to everything Allen Unruh might say, the current administration is getting things done. Funny how the anti-government protesters kick into full gear when the government becomes more competent.

Yes , last year we heard every sort of prediction, civil war , revolution, the dollar will tank , gold will rise to $2500 an ounce, inflation will run rampant. When things go bad there is always more fire under the soup of “things will get worse” than there is under the stew of “things will get better”, human nature I suppose.The tea party event in Sioux Falls this year was only attended by a fraction of the attendees last year,. Of course there was a $25 charge this year and arguably that is enough to stop any revolution. The tea party needs to change their fund raising stratagy and start having free will pancake suppers. That is the way to motivate the masses to get a revolution going.

Cory, I think that Allen Unruh meant a "revolution" at the polls, not a physical war or military coup d'etat or anything of that sort.

Even if Unruh thought that a violent uprising might occur, that in itself does not constitute a threat on his part. The weatherwoman issues a tornado warning. Does that mean she threatens you with a tornado?

I recall a song from some years back (loved the tune, but not the words so much) by a black woman, "talking about a revolution (just a whisper)." What did she mean by that? The election of a black President?

There's enough paranoia and delusion floating around without our having to deliberately feed it; that sort of thing could in fact prove dangerous to everyone. Look at some of the stuff coming out of certain "news" networks that I refrain with difficulty from identifying by name ...

Stan, I disagree: Unruh is an educated public speaker. He chooses his words carefully. In the context of the event covered and the language and symbolism flying about, Unruh at the very least chose the word revolution to hearken to the history of a violent conflict, not to any given Election Day.

Okay. Let's just keep on escalating the accusations, spewing ever-more venom of ever-greater toxicity, closing our eyes and ears to anything other than what we want to see and hear, until we have a bona fide civil war going on.

I suppose that some people simply enjoy watching blood flow -- as long as that blood does not come from their own veins. I can only pray that I never evolve into such a creature.

We're headed in the direction of Greece, in my opinion. Come to think of it, maybe that's not a bad place to invest right now! Heck, I could promise to pay my taxes and the Greek government might welcome me with zeal. Throw in a bodyguard while you're at it, eh Priam?

Stan . In the worldwide debt crisis as it is , it stands to reason that the smallest players will be the hardest hit.We see that going on in Greece now and your right we should be paying very close attention, because there is a threat of it spiraling upwards through the EU and the world.Our deficit has skyrocketed in the last couple of years as a result of choosing to attempt the history proven method of buying our way out of the recession and there are some that say that it was the only way to avoid chaos like what we are seeing in Greece and there are others that say it only postpones it and will make it worse. I hope it is the former. The unrest in Greece , whether it is media driven or the genuine attitude of the general public, would suggest that it is of paramount importance that our government confronts our debt and deficit problem with a balanced approach and soon. However the tea party's call for cutting taxes but not cutting entitlements(at least when it comes to their entitlements)is inconsistent with that approach. I don't see any violent unrest coming from the tea party, with all their yelling and flag waving they have been a peaceful movement.